These photos were taken at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando on September 22, 2016. The signs, gifts, and offerings that were left at the club over the past few months had been moved. It seemed barren, but slowly people were bringing more things - candles, pictures, flowers, stuffed animals... A new fence was installed, and on it large canvas murals of local artwork were draped to hide the building.
When I went, there were only a handful of people. Three women were filming a documentary. One woman came to mourn. A man was building a wooden sculpture that had the names of all of those who were killed at the club represented on small, wooden blocks that were hanging by a string. The wooden blocks also had messages that people wrote to each of the victims. A mother and her teenage daughter were there looking at the different things that were left there. Two men stood from a distance, just looking at the parking lot from the sidewalk and taking in the moment. A couple people came, a couple people left.
It felt very peaceful. Less of a spectacle. Very different feeling than before when the sidewalks were full of things.
I noticed rocks that people had written messages on. I'm not sure if they were there before, or if they were new. But I thought they were amazing. People had also written messages in marker and chalk all over the concrete of the parking lot.